Among These Was One
Ohthere, Who Had Made Himself Famous By His Voyages To Unknown Parts Of The
North, And
Who was invited to court by Alfred, to give an account of the
discoveries and observations he had made during
His unusual expeditions.
This person had been a chief of some note in his own country, and dwelt at
a place which he called Halgoland, supposed by some to have been in
Numadalen, while others say in Nordland, the most northerly p province of
Norway proper. In the succeeding paragraph, he is said to have dwelt
opposite to the West Sea, and as Alfred only uses the word sea to
denote a confined expanse or narrow channel, while he calls the ocean
Garsecg, it seems highly probable, that, by the West Sea, the west
ford was intended, - a channel or strait which divides the Luffoden
islands from the coast of Nordland, which would clearly place the residence
of Ohthere in this northern province. The account which he gave of his
voyages to his royal patron, is as follows.
Ohthere told his lord King Alfred, that lie lived to the north of all the
Nordmen or Norwegians; and that he dwelt in that land to the northward,
opposite to the west sea; and that all the land to the north of that sea is
waste and uninhabited except in a few places, to which the Finans[2] or
Fins repair in winter for hunting and fowling, and for fishing in the
summer.
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